HIDEAWAY—Agoura’s Malibou Lake provided the bucolic Bavarian backdrop in the film “Frankenstein” from 1931. In this famous scene, Frankenstein’s monster, played by Boris Karloff, befriends a young village girl as she tosses flowers into the water. Photo courtesy of BISON ARCHIVES Growing up on the west side of Los Angeles, Harry Medved was fascinated by the movie shootings that occurred in his backyard. He also enjoyed seeing the results on the big screen, especially when the backgrounds included scenery from his neighborhood.

His passion for filmmaking led Medved to not only pursue a career in the business but also develop an encyclopedic knowledge of L.A.’s filming locations.

The Oak Park resident recently collaborated with film historians Marc Wanamaker and Karie Bible to produce a book that features more than 200 photos of big-screen stars working in some of Southern California’s most famous filming locations.

TARA AT TRIUNFO—Scarlett O’Hara, played by Vivien Leigh, strolls near her family plantation with her father, played by Thomas Mitchell, in the classic “Gone with the Wind.” The scene was shot on the banks of Triunfo Creek near Kanan Road. Photo courtesy of BISON ARCHIVES “Location Filming in Los Angeles” published by Arcadia Publishing celebrates more than 100 years of filmmaking in Southern California, including Malibu Creek State Park, Paramount Ranch and Malibou Lake.

Medved is head of public relations for Fandango, a movie ticketing website. He and his brother Michael Medved, a talkradio host, co-authored “The Golden Turkey Awards,” a book that features their choices of the worst movies ever made.

Wanamaker is a founding member of the Hollywood Heritage Museum and the owner of Bison Archives, a source of im- ages and facts relating to the development of the American film and television industries. Bible is the official tour guide for Hollywood Forever Cemetery and creator of FilmRadar.com, a website for old-movie enthusiasts.

Brian Rooney, a local author and movie history aficionado, said “Location Filming in Los Angeles” provides a fascinating photo history of the local film sets.

“It’s wonderful to see all of these production stills from Marc Wanamaker’s Bison Archives all in one book,” Rooney said.

As the capital of the film industry, Los Angeles and its environs offer an ever-changing setting that can be molded and recast to reflect the vision of cinematic directors and double for sites around the world, but often production companies leave Los Angeles to shoot in other states like New Mexico, said Medved, who hopes that the book will encourage film executives to stay in Southern California.

“So many of us moved here for the film community, and there are many people in our area whose daily livelihood is based upon film production in Southern California,” Medved said.

On Dec. 21, Medved and his co-authors will host a book signing from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Agoura Hills Library. All proceeds from the event will benefit Friends of the Agoura Hills Library, he said.

Medved, who moved to Oak Park about a year and a half ago, said he delights in the fact that he lives down the street from homes depicted in movies such as “Poltergeist” and “Bonnie and Clyde.”

“I’ve always felt the film location professionals knew more about SoCal’s hidden destinations and history than anyone else,” he said.

“When I was a kid growing up, I remember a family member needed to see a doctor in a faraway locale called Calabasas, and I had to tag along as my mother drove us out there. It seemed like a trip to Oz, as it was such a long fanciful journey, driving over rolling hills.

“It wasn’t until later in life that I realized it was located at the King Gillette Ranch, which was once the home of director Clarence Brown, who used it in several of his movies,” Medved said.

Medved is proud that the movie industry helped to preserve open spaces for future generations.

“If there weren’t active movie ranches like Paramount and Malibu Creek these areas would have been long ago developed as homes. Hollywood kept these lands pristine to film,” he said.

The local movie enthusiast thanked open space activists Mary Wiesbrock, Linda Parks and Janna Orkney for their efforts to preserve filming locations.

Medved is collaborating with Harvey Kern, a former Oak Park community volunteer; Derek Ross, a member of the Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council; and David Ross of the Oak Park Community Foundation to create a new book about his hometown.

The book on Oak Park is scheduled for publication in December 2011.

“We’re eagerly anticipating that Oak Park residents will send us old photos, maps and brochures from the earliest days of our beautiful community,” Medved said.